Feeder for pulverulent material



Sept. 3, 1940. M. M. WHELDON FEEDER FOR PULVERULENT MATERIAL Filed June 24, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVEN 1 BY rron/way,

pt. 3, 1940. M. M. WHELDON 2,213,508

FEEDER FOR PULVERULENT MATERIAL Filed June 2 1. 1955' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 3, 1940 UNiTiii) STATS Z,Zi3,58

2,213,508 I FEEDER FOR PULVERULENT MATERIAL Maurice M. Wheldon, Monessen, Pa. Application June 24, 1938, Serial No. 215,649

1 Claim.

My invention relates to feeding apparatus for powdered or granular material wherein the material is constantly supplied to a rotating table and from there deflected at desired rates to a conveyor or a receptacle.

One use of the apparatus as shown in the accompanying drawings would be in the supply-- ing of iron ore, blast furnace flue dust, fine coke or the like, to a conveyor belt, for transfer to a sintering oven. The apparatus could be put to various other uses such, for example, as supplying materials to a concrete mixer, one feeding device being employed for depositing the dry cement on a conveyor belt, another feeder for supplying sand, and another for supplying gravel to the belt, in proper relative proportions; pug mills; brick mixtures; fertilizer mixtures, etc.

In apparatus of this character as hereto-fore employed, there is dilfioulty in maintaining proper feed of material, in accurately measured quantities, and they have the further objection that there is too great abrasive action of the material, on various parts of the feeding apparatus.

My invention has for one of its objects, the provision of means whereby the feeding apparatus may be adjusted to feed material at a rate which may be determined with precision.

Another object of my invention is to provide feeding apparatus for materials of the character referred to, wherein there is a minimum of abrasive wear as between the material and the feeding apparatus.

One form which my invention may take is shown in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus, partly in section; Fig. 2 is a partial side view thereof; Fig. 3 is a view taken on the line III-III of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a view taken on the line IVIV of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a view taken on the line V-V of Fig. 4.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 3, the apparatus is shown as mounted upon a foundation 6, to which is secured a base plate 'I, that has a pair of annular flanges 8 which extend into annular recesses in the underside of a rotating table 9, to thereby prevent horizontal displacement of the table relative to the base plate. Anti-friction bearings H3 are interposed between the table and the base plate. The base plate I carries a pair of bearings I! through which a drive shaft 52 extends, the shaft being driven from any suitable source of power. A pinion i3 is carried by the shaft l2 and has driving engagement with a ring gear 130. that is secured to the underside of the table 9.

Material is supplied to the table 9 from a bin or hopper it that may be suspended from suitable framework, not shown. The hopper I4 dis-i charges through a cylindrical discharge spout [5, which is suspended from the hopper. The member l5 contains an inner flange it upon which is supported a flow plate it having a circular opening H8 at its central portion. This plate can readily be replaced.

The material will flow from the hopper 10 through the opening 58 and accumulate upon the table 9 in a pile of truncated conical form, somewhat as indicated by the numeral l9, the diameter of the pile being substantially constant regardless of the quantity of material in the hop- 15 per la. The table 9 will usually be rotated at a constant speed and at a rate which will not create such centrifugal force as will cause throw of material toward the periphery of the table. The cylindrical spout l5 has an opening 20 through its wall, of an area not less than the area of the opening l8 in the plate H, and one edge of the opening is provided with a renewable wearing plate 25 that can be replaced when it becomes worn through abrasive action of the 25 material. Of course, the material does not touch the plate 2| unless it is being fed at the maximum rate.

A bracket 22 is secured to the wall of the spout It by screws 23, and carries vertically-spaced 3o webs or flanges 24 that have thrust engagement with the adjacent edge of themember l5. A plate 25 is secured to the member l5 by a bracket 26. A wear plate 21 is secured to the face of the bracket 22 and the plate 25. The bracket 22 35 carries a knuckle member 28 through which extends a hinge pin 29. A plow or scraper M has at one end a knuckle through which the pin 29 extends and carries a handle 32 by means of which the scraper may be swung about this 40 pivot. A flange 33 is provided on the upper edge of the cut-out portion 20 of the member 15, and carries an arcuate key plate 34 that overlies the handle 32 and is provided with holes for the reception of a pair of keys 35 that are disposed 45 at opposite sides of the handle 32 to hold it set in positions of adjustment on its pivot.

It will be seen that with the blade 3| positioned close to the wall of the spout IS, the inner end of the blade will not be engaged by the material, and 50 hence there will be no discharge of the material even during rotation of the table 9. In order to feed material, the blade is rocked about its pivot so that its inner end will dip into or bisect the pile of material at i9 a desired distance and, be- 55 cause of the rotation of thetable 9, a portion of the pile of material will be deflected along the blade 3| and the deflector plate 21 to the periphery of the table, whence it will fall upon a conveyor 3B. The volume of material thus deflected from the pile will, of course, depend upon the extent to which the blade is moved into the pile. The size of the opening 20 is such that even though the inner edge of the blade be moved clear to the center of the pile, and hence maximum discharge of material thereby obtained, there will be no crowding of the material at said opening-with consequent wear. Likewise, the diameter of the spout I5 is such that there will be no crowding of material against the peripheral wall thereof. Such crowding of the material would not only result in inaccurate rate of feed, but cause rapid wear on the table, wall and bottom of i5. Since at normal rates of table speed, the pile of material at l9 will be of constant volume, a very accurate rate of feed can be obtained through simply adjusting the depth to which the blade 3| is set into the pile.

The scraper 3! is preferably positioned in approximately tangential relation to the pile instead of radially thereof, so as to reduce to a minimum the pressure and friction of the material against the blade and to also facilitate movement thereof to the edge of the table 9.

It will be understood that a plurality of these feeding devices can be employed to supply the conveyor 36 with definite proportions of various materials which are to be intermingled.

I claim as my invention:

Feeding apparatus comprising a hopper having a cylindrical discharge mouth provided with an opening through its side wall at its lower edge, a table disposed adjacent to the lower edge of said mouth, a horizontally-positioned flow plate in said mouth above said opening, said plate having a central orifice for flow of material therethrough, from the hopper, the orifice being of such reduced diameter relative to the diameter of the mouth as to form a pile of material centrally on the table that is out of contact with the lower peripheral wall of the said mouth, means for rotating the table and the pile of material thereon, and a.

scraper plate extending through said opening and positioned in tangential relation to said pile, for deflecting material from said pile and through said opening to the edge of the table, the plate being removably supported in-said mouth and having its central opening unobstructed.

MAURICE M. WHELDON. 

